Why Dina McAdley is Cooler Than Thou II
by reegreeg
Summary: Because following mysterious old lady ghosts who claim to be your ancestor onto their hovership will give you magic powers, cool weapons, new friends, hot guys, the aforementioned hoverships...oh, and extremely powerful people who are trying to kill you. All in all, the adventure of a lifetime. T for violence.
1. i knew you were trouble

**A/N: Okay. So, as only two people announced their thoughts on what I should do with WDMiCTT, and they both said that it was up to me what to do, I decided to write this, the first chapa of the new WDMiCTT and let people decide themselves. Fun, right?**

**So...do I need to say more stuff here? No?**

**Um...yay me. Fossil Fighters and all of its characters do not and will not ever belong to me, but this story and my OCs do. But I might steal some characters and ideas from various mythologies, Fairy Tail, and Naruto later on...oh well. There never was hope for me anyway.**

**And thusly, let part one of Why Dina McAdley is Cooler Than Thou begin!**

* * *

**PART ONE**

**HURRICANE**

_"And you're that wind that swept me off my feet, got me flying till I'm crying and I'm down on my knees." _-Bridgit Mendler, Hurricane.

* * *

**DINA****  
**

**CHAPTER ONE: I KNEW YOU WERE TROUBLE**

* * *

"AAGH!"

I sit bolt upright in my sleeping bag, clutching the fabric so hard my knuckles are white and my fingers are a matching purply-red, my hairline damp with sweat and goosebumps all over my skin. This has been happening a lot lately - me waking up screaming in the middle of the night with nightmares about zombies in the shape of dinosaurs and demonic sorcerers trying to force my skull open. Ever since Zongazonga, I haven't been the same. None of us have.

I know Rupert has it worse. He went through more, like being possessed. But somehow he keeps all his emotions hidden behind this magical mental blanket that he can just drop down over his features at will. He doesn't show fear. Or sadness. Or hatred.

The lucky son of a potato.

I draw my knees up to my chest and listen to the relentless pitter-patter of the raindrops on the roof of the tent. That's another thing that's happened since Zongazonga, we've had awful weather. Nonstop thunderstorms, hundred mile per hour winds, floods, the occasional tornado - it's like the gods are trying to wipe everyone off the face of the Caliosteo islands. Joe's talking about cancelling the Super Cup and evacuating the park, whether we're just having a hurricane or the gods (if they exist) are trying to kill us.

Was there a god of storms? I can't remember. I think there might have been. I myself am something of an atheist, but mythology's still interesting and if I'm in a pinch I find myself praying to whomever is out there.

Lightning flashes and the silhouette of a person is visible through the tent fabric. That's weird. And disturbing. Have they been staring at us the whole night? Do they have x-ray vision? ARE THEY STARING AT _ME_?

I loosen my grip on my sleeping bag and crawl on my hands and knees to the opening of the tent, pausing to pull my anorak over my head. When I walk out it's so dark, I can't even see my hands out in front of me, and relief floods through me; it must have still been a dream. Maybe a night terror. Nothing but a figment of my- "AAH!"

I feel icy cold fingers clamp down on my wrist and when lightning flashes again, looking down I see the face of a little old lady, her face so wrinkled she doesn't look human. She must be thousands of years old.

"Who- who-" _Who are you?_ I struggle to ask, but nothing comes out except one-syllable sounds.

"Are you an owl?"

"What? No," I say, tugging my hand out of her iron grasp. "Are you a stalker?"

"No, I'm dead," she replies cheerfully in a lilting, singsong voice. "Been that way for millenniums now, ever since - ah, well, we needn't get into that now. But dearie-"

"_Don't_ call me that."

"But Dina, _dearie_, I'm your great great great times a thousand grandmother, Adia Marina MacAdley."

"I'm a _Mc_Adley."

"Your parents changed it when they got married. The MacAdley business became too much for them. But you can't escape it forever!"

_Escape what?_ I wonder, but before I say anything Adia gives me this look, all, "don't."

"Now, dearie, we haven't much time. I need you to wake up the Jefferson boy-"

"Rupert?"

She waves her semitransparent hand and I feel my vocal chords tighten, I can't make a sound.

"_The Jefferson boy_," she repeats with an edge to her voice. "We can contact your other friends later and let them know where you two are - I don't know when you're coming back. Well...you have five minutes to pack." She walks off to the edge of the forest, seemingly dismissing me for the time being.

I nod weakly and crawl inside the tent, her words buzzing around in my head.

* * *

I suppose her being my great times googol grandmother makes sense: she has the same nose as me, the slightly upturned one I've only seen on Mc/Mac/whatever Adleys, and the same mud-colored eyes. She even walks the same way I do, with slightly uneven steps and occasionally veering off to the side, minds clearly elsewhere. I bet she used to have orange hair, too, and my fair skin with slightly ruddy cheeks. 'Xcept now she's all wrinkled, ha ha.

I put on my jumpsuit over a fleecy long-sleeved T-shirt and thick white leggings, then throw all my other clothes into my duffel bag. My fossil case and personal belongings go in on top of that, and then my sleeping bag. I'm sure the Park won't mind - after all, I did save them _and_ the world.

It's a tight fit, I'll say that much.

After that I shake Rupert awake, not giving him many details but saying "it's über-important, dude, you gotta come with me" which earns me a "shut up, I'm trying to sleep."

(Despite what we tell others and what others tell us, our relationship is sorta going down in the dumps.)

It takes me a few threats and precisely ten minutes to get him up and fully functioning, but we're packed and ready soon afterwards. I want to say goodbye to Todd and Pauleen, tell them we'll be back soon, no need to worry, but I don't make promises I can't keep and I've learned the hard way that farewells make things harder.

Rupert holds the tent flaps open for me and we exit it, not looking back, holding our backs straight and our heads high. I can't see his eyes but tears are welling up in mine.

_"I don't know when you're coming back."_

I'm not that smart, but I'm almost certain that that's grown-up code for "You're _not_ coming back."

Feels like it, anyway.

* * *

Adia leads us on to a hovership, tells us that it's our "new home until...well, until things change." There are five bedrooms, so Rupert and I both take our pick (not that it matters, really, they're all the same) and get to work unpacking.

The first thing I notice when I enter my room is that it overlooks the TRI, namely the stage that the weird people - the Titan Slayers - had performed on all those weeks ago. There was that glitter fight, and the brunette with the strong Tara accent who had almost shot us with this golden laser from her bisentō spear...and all that other stuff.

It's unsettling. I miss those days when the biggest threats to me were creepy Elvis impersonators and fighting over fossils. When having a level 4 vivosaur was something to be proud of. When demons and zombies weren't underfoot.

But then came the Titan Slayers. Then came the Barebones Brigade, then came Zongazonga. Then surviving meant you couldn't afford to think of level 4 vivosaurs since your level 17 ones were the ones that mattered. Then we were the Patrol Team and thirteen- and fourteen-year-olds being forced to make decisions and do things adults should...but don't.

I close the curtains and turn to my bag. Even though there's a bed, queen-sized with more pillows than I know what to do with, I spread my sleeping bag out in the floor and decide to sleep on that instead. I guess it would be nice to at least feel somewhat the same (and sore) as I usually am.

Unpacking doesn't take long, because I don't have much stuff. My closet is painfully almost empty.

I flop down onto the bed, 'cause even if I won't be sleeping on it, it would make a good place to chill, right? That's what I tell myself, anyway. I roll over, but under one of the pillows there's something hard and pointy digging into my head: a box.

I pry it open and a note falls out.

_Yours was hard to track down, it always was flighty. But not as tricky as the Logan's._

_Anyhow, don't let it slip out of your grasp again. Keep it safe._

_- Adia Marina MacAdley, spirit._

For some reason, the handwriting for the word spirit is slightly different, like she'd paused before writing it and then wanted it to stand out slightly. That's dumb. I already know she's dead.

I ponder what the important thing Adia hinted at is. And how did it "slip out of my grasp"? Did someone take it from me? And why does she care? It must be important.

Maybe it's that teddy bear I found when I was around six and still lived in the orphanage.

It wasn't much, slightly worn and simply designed, but to me it was the cutest thing I had ever seen. I took it back and slept with it that night, but when I woke up the world outside was being destroyed, things were burning, people were dropping dead. And wherever something or someone had suffered the consequences, there was always this symbol left there: a swirly, intricately designed eight-pointed star.

I don't know how or why, but something told me it had to do with the teddy bear, simple as it was. I ran through the streets with it, miraculously not getting hurt, and once I got to the park where I found it, I started sobbing my eyes out, screaming to the gods. And then...it disappeared. Everything was fixed instantaneously. It was a magic teddy bear.

Well, I don't want it. Anyway, if Adia is truly related to me, would she really want me to be the cause of the apocalypse? I don't think so. Maybe she used her ghostie spirit powers to make the bear un-magical...whatever. I'll give it to Rupert, as a peace offering/late half-birthday gift.

Excited by this thought, and determined I'm right (because running through my memories that's the only thing Adia would probably care about), I open the box fully, flip it upside down, and give it a good shake, just in case.

The teddy bear does not fall out. Peering inside the box, there is no teddy bear. Instead, looking down, I see a wrought-iron bracelet, plain and simple, a silver turtle charm hanging from it, its shell decorated with teeny tiny bits of rose quartz.

Oh...I remember this. The only memory I have of my parents. I see them so clearly, smiling down at three-year-old me, my mom tucking my hair behind my ears and handing me a box - this box - and my dad, who I look just like, opening it and slipping the bracelet on to my chubby toddler wrist, where it felt much heavier than it looked. Then he looked at me, eyes hard, and told me firmly to never, _ever _take it off. Then his smile returned and my mom grinned even wider than before, flashing her teeth and giving me a beam that would have lit up the world (she really was very pretty) and telling me how beautiful it was. Then...I don't know. We went back to life.

I guess since I never took it off, it became part of the background; I got so used to it I didn't notice it. Sometimes people would compliment me on it - my friend Jonathan at the orphanage was especially fond of it - and as usual, I smiled and thanked them. If they asked where I got it, I wouldn't even think before answering "family heirloom" and then the exchange was over.

And then...oh. Right. How it "slipped out of my grasp."

It was a few days before Todd and I left for the Caliosteo islands. We were at the national park, he was looking for rare birds to take pictures of so he could win the grand prize, I was just chilling. Two people walked by me. They were around my age, dressed in school uniforms from the prestigious Kaseki Academy, this school for Fossil Fighters. Some really famous people have come out of there - Joe, Vivosaur Island's Dr. Diggins, Rosetta Richmond.

Anyway, there they were, a boy with messy auburn hair, icy eyes, no eyebrows, and tanuki-like rings around his eyes; next to him was a petite girl with long white hair in a braid, rosy cheeks and dark grey eyes that shifted like storm clouds. Something felt slightly off about them, they had this aura of power around them that made my skin itch, and now that I think I about it the storm brewing had seemed to be following the girl around. But all I noticed then was that they had pickaxes and fossil cases. They were to be worshipped and treated with utmost respect, they were like gods.

The girl grinned at me. "Where'd you get that bracelet?"

And of course, I answered, "It's a family heirloom."

"It's nice," said the boy.

"Thank you."

But they didn't leave and I didn't question that. I was too caught up in the excitement of actually talking to real-life Fossil Fighters like it was totally normal. Plus, they were my age. We could have been friends.

"So...what're you doing here on such a not-so-fine day?" asked the girl. I could have said anything, I could have told the truth. But in my deluded fantasies of joining their crowd, I lied.

"Digging." Before they could question my lack of pickaxe or case, I went on. "My friend just went to the shop to see if they could upgrade our stuff, and I'm waiting for him here."

They nodded and the boy asked, "What's your name?"

"Dina McAdley."

They looked at each other, eyes wide, and turned back to me.

"Well...hey, Dina, could I see your bracelet again?"

I nodded and extended my arm to the girl. She took my hand and narrowed her eyes at the jewelry.

"It looks awfully heavy," she said. "Doesn't that make digging harder?"

"Ah...well...um," I stammered. "I don't know. I always thought it was just my pickaxe that was heavy, but I'm a sorta new Fossil Fighter, so I guess I don't have much experience..."

I couldn't see the girl's face, as she was still scrutinizing my bracelet, but the boy looked like he bought the lie. Finally the girl looked up.

"Maybe you should take it off," she said eventually.

I realize now, my father told me not to, and he's dead now, so what I did was breaking the only promise I remember making to him. But there was zero sense in my head then. All I was thinking was _Fossil Fighters Fossil Fighters Fossil Fighters_, nothing was right.

So the girl looked at me, and at first I just looked into her eyes, possibly trying to see if she was lying, but the only thing I noticed were the flecks of gold in her eyes, like little bolts of lightning in her storm-cloud irises.

"Okay," I said eventually. Then I slipped the bracelet off and into my pocket. My hand did feel lighter, and the little tingle I would always feel where the turtle lay was gone.

"That'll probably make Medal-throwing easier, too," said the girl. I nodded.

And then the boy looked at the sky and said, "Look at the time, we gotta go." His gaze lingered on me for a moment too long, and he frowned slightly, but then the girl got up too and stood by his side again. His stare softened.

"See you around, Dina," she said, and then they walked down a hill and they were gone.

A knock on my door snaps me out of Memory Land. I stuff the box and note under my pillow and put the bracelet on. A tingle spreads throughout my body and I shudder, but there's a familiar weight on my left wrist now and it feels comforting.

"Come in," I call, my voice stronger than I felt not ten seconds ago.

Rupert steps in. "I was just gonna say that we take off in a minute, if you wanna watch that or something. I'll be in the living room."

I nod. Then, when Rupert's gone, I take the box and put it in my closet. It doesn't feel that empty now.

Okay, maybe it does.

* * *

The next morning, I wake up in a chair by the fireplace in the living room, which feels out of place but somehow fits (and works) anyway.

For a second, I'm confused as to what I'm doing here, but the it hits me. Adia. Leaving Todd and Pauleen. The teddy bear, the bracelet, the flashbacks.

Rupert's sitting in the chair next to mine, and he looks like he just woke up, too.

"Hi," he says, when he catches me staring.

"Mornin'," I reply.

"We've landed."

"How can you tell?"

He points out the picture window, where we're at eye level with a large iceberg and we seem to be floating. "See? We're at Icegrip Plateau."

"Oh."

We sit in silence for a few minutes, till Adia walks in through the wall.

"Get your winter clothes on, kids," she orders. "You have people to meet."

* * *

"R-remind why we're h-h-here?" Rupert shivers, teeth chattering.

"No idea," I reply, rubbing my gloved hands together. "Adia didn't even tell us who we're supposedly looking for."

Suddenly I heard a male voice yell in the distance, followed by a stream of profanity in a slightly higher girl's one. Walking closer, I see a tall girl in black holding a broadsword, yelling at a slightly older boy in a blue fur-lined parka who is pointing a katana at her throat.

"Oh," says Rupert. "You don't think...?"

"I'm afraid I do." I cross my arms. "Shall we go break that up?"

"I don't feel like it," Rupert groans. "Mapo, do it for me." He weakly tosses his favorite Dino Medal on the ground, where the black-and-blue vivosaur looks at him for a moment and then stomps off.

Upon seeing the dinosaur, the girl curses again and swings her sword, defeating the Mapo King in an instant.

"No way."

I take that as my cue to intervene.

"Yo!" I yell, running over. "Cut it out! Stop pointing sharp metal objects at each other!"

"_Dina?_" is the only reply I get, and I turn towards the boy who said it. I recognize his bright blue eyes and messy brown hair immediately, and then I fling my arms around him.

"Jonathan! I haven't seen you in years! Where have you been?"

He laughs. "I could ask you the same question."

"I ran away from the orphanage right before I turned eleven."

"I wa-"

"Oh, could you two cut it out?" snaps a soft female voice. It's the girl who was cussing earlier, who now seems like she had a complete character change, hiding behind a swoop of silver hair and kicking at the ground.

"No," I say. "Now, answer me: _why were you pointing sharp metal objects at each other_?"

"Okay, so as my birthday present to myself-"

"Happy seventeenth, Jonathan. Carry on."

"-I decided to go digging, right? Then Argis here, who is theoretically supposed to be my friend, pops up out of nowhere and tries to kill these people who were just sitting there, minding their own business."

"They were obviously evil!" Argis yells, then looks surprised at her own boldness. She lowers her voice. "They could not have made it more obvious. It was like this movie director came in and said 'okay, kids, put your heads together and look evil.'"

"How do you know they were evil, and not just actors or something?" asks Rupert, who apparently decided to join the party.

"Their magic was evil, therefor, they were evil."

"So when she charged towards them, I blocked her sword, and she started cussing at me and threatened to kill me," Jonathan finishes.

"Wow," I say. "You two are sorta overreacting. A lot."

"You're like Todd and Pauleen," says Rupert, and I feel a pang in my chest - they must be so worried - but I ignore it.

"Who?"

"Friends," I say quickly. "Some very dramatic friends of ours."

No one says anything after that, except for the muttered, very forced-sounding words of apology from Jonathan to Argis and from Argis to Jonathan. The silence is uncomfortable and I'm grateful when the sound of a motor and a girl's scream fill the air.

Hold up...screaming?

The four of us rush to the waterline, where a small motorboat is rapidly approaching and the screams seem to be originating from.

"RIIIIIIILEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYY!" someone screams. "SLOW DOWN!"

"NEVER!"

"PAAAAAAIGE, MAKE HER SLOW DOOOOOOWN!" The girl's screams are becoming higher and louder by the nanosecond, and Argis claps her hands over her ears.

"I'm sorry," comes the reply, along with a small giggle, "I don't think I can do that."

As the boat comes even closer, I can see there are two blondes sitting in it, both around twelve. One's rather unpleasant-looking, with a crooked grin and steely blue eyes. She's at the wheel and from what I can guess, has one foot on the gas pedal and is not going to slow down. The other has wide brown eyes and a face full of freckles, and she's biting her lip, probably trying not to laugh.

Then a small figure on a wakeboard flies up, up, up...and down, down, down, off her wakeboard, and into the water. She's still screaming, but now I can't tell what she's saying. I probably don't want to.

Rupert steps forward. "I think this is why that girl was telling you to slow down."

The unpleasant-looking blonde stops the boat and waves the comment aside. "She's always like that. Such a scaredy cat."

"Emmy isn't a scaredy cat," says the other girl. "She just screams a lot. And she doesn't like heights."

Emmy resurfaces, coughing up water, and shakes out her hair, getting me all wet. "Truer words." Then she turns to the girls in the boat, ignoring me completely, I might add. "Is this where I was supposed to be so I could meet those people?"

Mean-blonde nods and throws a bag over the side of the boat, onto the ice. "Good luck, Em," she says. "And keep in touch."

"I will. Give Isabel my best, won't you?"

"Of course," says the other girl.

"Well...bye, guys," says Emmy, giving both girls a hug, which they return, despite the fact that she's all wet.

Then mean-blonde puts the boat in reverse and speed of. We all watch it as it disappears. I, for one, am glad when it does.

Emmy pushes herself onto the ice to watch the boat, then turns in our direction, lowers her head, and asks us, very very quietly, if we know anyone named Adia. Then she looks up, and oh gods, I hate her already.

Where do I start? The high cheekbones, the full lips, the chocolate-colored skin without a spot or freckle in sight (though I will say right now that she needs to moisturize)? The fact that Rupert is looking at her like he's never seen a girl before?

I think I'll go with either her dark brown hair which is like mine in the sense it's straight as a rod and only falling to the middle of her ribcage, but she makes it look good; or her eyes, which, while they're brown, like mine, deserve to be called a whole different color. They're clear as glass, and this amazing shade of light fallow brown. I want to rip them out of her head.

And then the fact that Rupert is looking at her like he's never seen a girl before.

"Adia?" asks Rupert. "Sure we know her. Are you looking for her?"

"Oh no," Emmy answers softly. "Well, I'm not sure. The principal at my school got a call from a Ms. Adia MacAdley, requesting that I leave on this mission. So I need to report for duty."

Adia suddenly appears in the middle of our little pentagram, first turning to Emmy. "And so you have, child," she says, then turns to face the rest of us. "I think that it may be too cold for you mortals to discuss this outside. Come along, dears, I'll make hot chocolate."

We start following her back to the hovership, pausing to allow Emmy to pick up her bag, which takes a while because as she isn't very big, it's the same size as her.

* * *

As promised, Adia makes hot chocolate before setting the hovership on autopilot. I don't touch mine, and neither does Argis. Jonathan looks suspicious, but after Rupert deems it "actually pretty good, guys" he takes a sip. So does Emmy, who immediately spits it out.

"OW!" she screams, which is even worse to listen to in close quarters. "How can you guys stand this stuff? It's like five million degrees _Celsius_!"

I almost smile but I hate her, so I ignore her and turn to Jonathan and Argis.

"So," I say, "where did you get those swords?"

"These?" asks Argis, who holds out her hands and knits her eyebrows. Flames dance across her fingers and her broadsword begins forming. It takes a few minutes and she's out of breath afterwards, but she's holding a sharp metal object nonetheless. "I dunno. When I was eight or so, I was given this bracelet by my parents, right before they died. They told me never to take it off and I didn't, and afterwards I was able to do this."

"Pretty much the same story here," says Jonathan, who places his hand on the floor and _poof_, a katana appears. It doesn't seem to place nearly as much strain on him as it does Argis, but I guess he's older.

"If it matters," Emmy whispers, "I can sorta do the same thing." She doesn't even blink before the air bends around her hands and two long, silvery blue daggers appear in them. "I'm not sure how to use them, but sometimes I just like having them because...I don't know. They remind me of my mother."

"Who's dead?" asks Rupert. Emmy nods.

"Both my parents. The only memory I have of them is giving me this bracelet and telling me not to take it off. I did, once, well...lost it, really, but I got it back the other day." She holds out her wrist, which is adorned with a bracelet similar to mine, but the charm is a panther, its spots inlaid with teeny bits of diamonds in a green so pale they're almost white.

It's very pretty, and the others are fawning over it, but I'm just thinking. She's like me. In fact, I can almost see her now, being stopped by strangers left and right._ "Family heirloom."_

Does that mean I should hate her less?

Rupert laughs at something she says, and he hardly ever laughs. Jonathan and Argis are grinning, and she's telling some story with enthusiasm, making small gestures and smiling shyly. The poster child for everything I'm not.

I have decided that I do not hate her less.

"Hey Dina," says Jonathan, "don't you have a bracelet like this, too?"

He shows off his, which I never noticed before. The wrought-iron band sports a bear charm inlaid with small bits of citrine. Argis has one, as well, with a garnet-spotted wolf.

"What about you, Rupert?" I ask. "It can't be a conicedence that we all just so happen to have eerily similar bracelets."

"I don't wear it much," he answers. "I guess it's sorta girly and plus, it's really heavy. Makes it hard to dig."

I will _not_ succumb to the déjà vu. I will _not_.

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a wrought-iron band with a shark charm, its gills lined with itsy-bitsy pieces of lapis lazuli.

"It's not girly," says Jonathan.

"Yeah," I snort, "not compared to my _pink turtle_." Rupert grins, but he doesn't laugh. I doubt it even crossed his mind.

"Hey," says Rupert. "Do you think this means we can summon weapons, too?"

"Sure," says Argis.

"Go for it," says Jonathan.

I think Emmy murmurs something along the lines of "don't hurt me," but I can't be sure.

Rupert slips on the bracelet and and closes his eyes. A low hum fills the room, and Rupert's hands faintly glow blue. The outline of a shaft of some sort appears in them, which spreads to become the outline of one of those glaive spears. Then the outline is filled with the glaive itself, its blade made out of the same blue metal as Emmy's knives and the long ebony shaft carved with wave designs.

"Oh my gods..." he mutters. "It's beautiful. I think I'm gonna be sick." He sets the glaive down on his lap and nods to me. "Your turn, Dina."

"Okay...?"

I'm not sure how this is supposed to work. Do I get to choose a weapon? Unlikely. I think.

I finger the charm on my bracelet for good luck, and close my eyes. I try to picture all sorts of things: a bow, a machine gun, shuriken. But my mind keeps fogging up. I can't keep those images. Finally I see the outline of something, looks like a sword of some sort. But behind my eyelids all I see is darkness and in my head all there is is this pink mist, blocking the mystery item from view.

Suddenly my hand feels heavier, and I close my fingers around the...thing. Something cold and sharp is grazing the back of my hand, and I hear the same hum there was when Rupert got his glaive, but a thousand times louder. My hair is standing on end, I can feel it. I must look like an idiot.

Suddenly I hear a scream, probably Emmy's - her worst one yet. I snap my eyes open and first see I'm holding the hilt of an _urumi_, a whip-sword, with multiple whips/blades. Then I look in Emmy's direction when I see that the whips are lashing out at her, by themselves. Blood is running down a cut on her cheek and her bottom lip has been sliced open. I jerk my urumi back, but the blades just get longer and keep attacking her. One wraps around her left wrist and she nearly drops her knife, but jumps at least six feet in the air instead, dislodging the blade. Then she slices downward with her knives, pushing all the whips back, and manages to disarm me. Both of us look down a our respective weapons, then back up, "How did I do that?" looks on our faces.

We all stand in a shocked silence for a few moments, weapons raised, eyes wide. Suddenly Adia floats through the wall, clapping her hands.

"Bravo," she says, "bravo! You all have your weapons, and you've almost realized the connection between you! I'm shocked, things have never gone this quickly before. Bravo!"

Argis's eyes flick from her sword to Adia. "What connection?" she asks.

"Well, hmm. How to explain this..." Adia taps her chin, then her face brightens. "Aha. How many of you believe in the gods?"

Jonathan's and Argis's hands shoot straight up. Rupert raises his somewhat reluctantly, and Emmy looks uncertain about her religious views being questioned, but slowly raises her hand anyway.

I'm the only one left, and I honestly can't say one thing or the other. Up until today, I was certain I didn't. They were myths and children's tales and things to dress up as for Halloween. The teddy bear and the girl with the storm-cloud eyes were coincidences.

Except there's the connection between our bracelets and magic weapons now. The box under my pillow. Things that can't be coincidences because they can't be explained without saying, "magic."

But magic and the gods are two different things...right?

Maybe?

I raise a finger. "I..." I pause, then grab the turtle charm on my bracelet with my free hand. "I think I do."

"Well," says Adia, "that's good. Very good. This just got easier to explain. Now, you may want to put away your weapons and get comfortable, because this might take a while.

"As you know, the Caliostean pantheon consists of eighteen gods: fire, air, earth, water, spirit, time, sun, magic, energy, life, destruction, storm, wisdom, fighting, hope, love, creation, and war. For the first few eras of humanity, the humans and gods lived in perfect harmony. The eighteen holy clans of Caliosteo, the ones that represented each god, offered daily sacrifices and prayed five times a day.

"But after a few millennia, these things changed. The humans became arrogant and forgetful. They decided building their empires and acquiring riches was a better way to spend one's day than praying; they sacrificed only animals and humans that were already sick and dying and who couldn't be saved.

"The gods didn't like that. They decided to punish the humans by creating the titans, who proceeded to wreak havoc and destroy civilization as we - they - knew it.

"So then last two clans of Caliosteo, the Rogue clan and the Centauris clan came into the picture. They, instead of worshipping the gods, worshipped Heaven and Hell, yin and yang, light and darkness. Life and Death. They each selected their single most powerful warrior and sent them against the titans.

"That worked well at first, but it soon became clear that two warriors wasn't enough. So the Knight clan, the Espada clan, and the Silverwing clan made the same decisions as Rogue and Centauris did. Together, the five warriors easily overcame the titans-"

"Wait," I say. "Were they the original Titan Slayers?"

"Indeed," answers Adia. "Ahem. They easily defeated the titans, but became drunk on their own power. They caused more destruction than the titans did. Now, around two thirds of the gods were okay with this. Some, the ones that the Knight, Espada, and Silverwing clans represented, were ecstatic that 'their' clans were so powerful. The other nine were simply happy the humans were being so torn apart.

"But there were five gods, five clans, that were distraught. And so the MacAdley, spirit, clan, the Logan, air, clan, the Smith, earth, clan, the Redwood, fire, clan, and the Jefferson, water, clan chose _their _greatest fighters and sent them to fight the Titan Slayers.

"Except it didn't work out too well, and it didn't for all the generations that fought. The Titan Slayers' powers had all sorts of advantages over those of your clans. The Rogue's shadows put out the Redwood's fires like they were little candles. The Smith's earth attacks couldn't touch the Silverwings. The Jefferson's water always 'mysteriously' evaporated or froze if it came too close to an Espada. The Centauris's weird space powers just sucked the Logan's air up."

"I'm sorry," I say, interrupting her again, "and I don't want to sound like I'm bragging, but what on earth could possibly beat the element of spirit?"

"A stronger spirit," answers Adia gravely. "The Knight clan worshipped Ameterasu, goddess of the sun. They had holy spirits, and their manipulation of light allowed them to practically control the minds of anyone with good intentions. It was a lost cause...or it seemed to be.

"When a particularly powerful Knight, Lexie the great, created a spell that allowed her to actually _control_ the _sun_, she ended up blowing a hole through the planet. And inside, the five good clans found the fabled gems of the gods, which were these gemstones that the gods had enchanted so they would only be found when humanity needed them the most.

"Thomas Jefferson, the Jefferson clan's mightiest hero at that point, recognized them for what they were and took small pieces out of each of your stones and made your bracelets out of them, thus giving you, all your ancestors and all your descendants stronger powers, as long as they kept they bracelets on. They also allow you all to use the weapon of your specific god.

"And so with their newfound magic powers, the Keepers, as they then became, defeated the Titan Slayers and everyone lived happily ever after. The gods sealed the ends of the holes with ice, creating the North and South poles, and life was good."

"That's a nice story," says Jonathan, "but how come we're here then?"

"I thought that would have been obvious for someone of your intelligence, my dear," says Adia. "Humans, being the idiots we are, have created this teeny tiny problem called _global warming_. If the poles melt, any descendants of the mightiest heroes will be able to find the gems and theoretically take over the world."

"Oh."

"What about the other..uh...(one, two, three)...ten clans and gods?" asks Rupert.

"That's not important right now," snaps Adia, giving us the impression that it's very important, but she doesn't want us to know about it.

"So, let me get this straight," says Emmy, crossing her legs. "Our mission is to _stop global warming_?"

"Well, if you could do that, it would definitely be an added bonus. But focus on getting to the gems and disabling them, if you please. And remember, the Titan slayers are looking for them, too."

We all let that sink in. I knew following Adia was a bad idea. I don't want to go to the North Pole/South Pole. I hate the cold. And I _don't_ want to deal with the Titan Slayers.

All of a sudden, a female voice with a strong Tara accent that definitely doesn't belong to anyone in the room rings out, "Well, if you don't want to deal with us, you could always give up, roight, _Mac_Adley?"

The shadows on the floor mix together to form a gate, which opens to reveal the Titan Slayers, and explodes to reveal that we're flying. I guess it must not have been obvious to Emmy...and freckle-blonde said that she didn't like heights, but she didn't say how much: Emmy takes one look at the sky and collapses.

"Isn't this charming?" Asha, the girl with the bisentō goes on. "Guys, we've stumbled roight upon the enemy's headquarters."

"Hello," says Frost, the boy who was practically sleepwalking the first time I met him. "Long time no see."

* * *

**A/N: Woo! This is done! Only took me...oh gods...like, two weeks?**

**Urg. And...well, whatever. I'm just going to warn y'all of a few things right now:**

**1. I doubt most of the other chapters will be this long, but I had a lot to say in this one.**

**2. Jonathan, Argis, thermokinesis, and the original idea of the gems of power belong to Fossilfighter1313.**

**3. This was really fun to write, so I might end up just going with this.**

**4. All really bad puns, jokes, or names are intentional. Especially the name of this character who comes later...oh gods, I crack up just thinking about her. **

**That is all! Keep reading and reviewing, I guess.**


	2. d-i, n-o, s-a, U R a dinosaur

**A/N: No reviews? You mock me.**

**I don't own any of the media I occasionally steal stuff from; or Fossil Fighters. Also, Jonathan and Argis belong to fossilfighter1313. I do, however, own this story and my OCs. **

**Story powers activate.**

* * *

**RUPERT**

**CHAPTER TWO: D-I, N-O, S-A, U R A DINOSAUR**

* * *

"Long time no see."

Two weeks, three days, four hours, fifty-two minutes, and ten seconds precisely if my intellect is to be trusted. It usually is.

Crap, there I go again. In dangerous situations, I am often presented with a list of options:

1. Scream at the top of my lungs (Pauleen, and apparently Emmy.)

2. Fake stomachache. (Todd.)

3. Kick cause of dangerous situation in the balls. (Dina.)

4. Be sensible. (No. Freaking. Idea.)

However, I tend to turn to the fifth option, "recite random facts and be utterly useless." It happened with that time those two weird kids crashed the Kaseki Academy - a boy died. It happened with Zongazonga - I was possessed and nearly caused the end of civilization as we know it. And now it's happening here - best case scenario, we're all gonna die.

I'm half-expecting Dina to charge pretty-boy with the javelin (he has a name, I'm sure of it) or put Frost in a sleeper hold and immobilize him with duct tape. I'm half-hoping for Jonathan and Argis to start wailing these people with their swords. There are five of them and five of us, right? What's stopping them?

Asha runs her hand along the wall, fingering the hole she created and frowning. She looks around. "Yer hovercraft's nicer than ours," she muses. "That's not fair. Yer insulation's shoddy, though, so I guess there's that."

"Interior decoration has nothing to do with anything," spits Dina. "Neither does insulation. Or whatever."

"Well if it has nothing to do with anything, _do_ change the subject."

The girl with floor-length white hair raises an eyebrow and spins her chakram around on her finger, looking at Dina expectantly.

"Your hair is tacky," sighs Dina eventually. "Happy?"

She throws the chakram and catches the end of Dina's collar, pinning her to the wall. "No, not happy. But what am I supposed to do?"

"Cut it," I mumble, but I don't think anyone hears me. I hope not.

Except maybe someone does. Jonathan has his katana in hand again and takes a swing at her head, only to have her hair float upwards and wrapping around the blade, thus saving itself from being cut and saving her from being decapitated.

"Great, now it's gonna get tangled," she groans. "Thanks a lot."

"Okay, everyone just shut up," snaps the punk girl in the very tall boots and the kimono - Keaka. She stomps a thigh-high-clad foot on the carpeted floor and pulls a white pointy stick out of one of her twin buns. "The next person who says something completely irrelevant is going to get a stick through their throat."

I fumble for the glaive I summoned earlier, only to realize I put it away for story time. Cursing under my breath I let my mind go slack, waiting as patiently as possible for a sharp metal object to stab someone with.

Then Keaka stiffens and a dark red stain starts spreading across her white sash. Pretty-Aztec-javelin-boy rushes to help her but the silvery-blue tip of a knife pops out from his shin. He tries pulling it out, but to no avail - it is _stuck_.

"Emmy," I say softly. So she's _not_ completely useless. (Not that I ever thought that, of course, I just...um. Well.)

Frost sticks out his hand and a double-bladed battle axe appears in it. He swings in Emmy's general direction, but Argis intercepts it with her broadsword before it makes it past Keaka's head. Frost's eyes glow - one gold, one blue - and the axe wavers like it was just a mirage. The blades grow thinner and longer and the shaft shorter, 'til it's more like a hilt. The carvings near his hands spiral out to form a crossguard.

All this takes place in two seconds, tops, but it feels longer than it actually is. Doesn't it always? Being possessed felt like it took ye-

_No. Bad thoughts ruin things. I will not get lost down memory lane when people are fighting, _I tell myself. Bad Rupert.

I feel the solid weight of the glaive's shaft, and it spreads to weigh down my entire left arm. _Finally._

But I'm too late to join the party, as is Dina. The rest of our little team...the Keepers...is experienced. Ish, at least. More so than us.

Oh, and they're not scared.

Dina turns to me. "Do something," she mouths. Her fists are clenched and her face is white. "Please? You owe me."

Of course. That's what comes to mind. Not everyone here possibly dying, not the fact that in theory I'd be her knight in shining armor, the face of stereotypes; she remembers that I do in fact owe her after losing that round of Go Fish.

"I'm thinking," I mouth back.

While around eighty percent of my brain is focused on that, though, I use the other twenty percent to focus on the fight raging on in front of me.

Frost, Argis, Emmy, and pretty-boy are duking it out, screaming and bleeding all over the place, but Keaka seemingly can't. She's put her hand on the wall and concentrating. Suddenly her eyes widen and she turns to Emmy, who is wiping the blood off her dagger.

"You," shouts Keaka, outraged, "he said you were afraid of heights! How can you - how did you-"

Emmy lifts her head and turns in Keaka's general direction.

"My eyes are closed," she says calmly. "And what I can't see can't scare me."

_It can hurt you, though,_ I think half in awe and half all "wow, that's the stupidest plan ever." _Since, you know, you can't see it..._

Keaka comes to that conclusion as well. She pulls the second stick out of her right bun and flicks it weakly at Emmy, who is unaware of this.

_Crap, _I think. She's cornered. The only way to dodge that would be leaning backwards, which would make her fall out of the hovership. There is a sharp pointy stick flying towards her eye which would probably kill her and...

Suddenly I lose all focus again. It's like when I summon my spear, but more so, I am physically incapable of coherent thought. There is a sound of rushing water and then when I can see clearly, I've summoned two huge spheres of H2O in my hands.

I'm confused at first but then I realize - these are my new magic powers.

I fling the first water sphere at Keaka's stick, knocking it away. I drop the second, soaking both the floor and my feet.

"Mapo!" I shout, tossing his Dino Medal. "Eat them!"

The gray carnivore pops into existence and roars at the Titan Slayers, headbutting Keaka into a wall (she's out). Freaky-hair girl flings her arms out and creates a small black hole, not strong enough to affect anyone not right next to her, but Mapo is so big and powerful that it only does a little bit of damage. The vortex collapses in on itself and freaky-hair girl crumples, making her an easy target for Mapo's Aqua Cannon. (She's out.)

Dina smiles at me gratefully and throws Heracles's Dino Medal out, so he can join the fray.

"Heracles Beam on the last three."

The laser should have gone right through the remaining Titan Slayers, but it never hits them. Instead it warps as soon as it leaves Heracles's nose, like it hit an invisible mirror, then flickers and dies. Jonathan and Argis, who seem to have figured out the magic powers as well, summon levitating fireballs and boulders respectively. They prepare to throw them at the Titan Slayers, but again, as soon as they've left the vicinity of my fellow Keepers they die, with lack of a better way of putting that. The rocks crumble into little pebbles which then disintegrate into grains of sand. Pretty-boy grits his teeth and raises his arm, and the fire first shrinks and rapidly becomes darker, then disappears altogether in a puff of smoke.

Finally, the last one, Asha, dashes up to us with her bisentō and slices through Heracles and Mapo, then knocks me back into the wall with a golden laser beam. The sun briefly blinds me, and from what I can tell afterwards it blinds Dina too, but she's still covering her eyes and blinking. Argis and Jonathan are unconscious, and Argis's hair is smoldering, the tips of it singed. Emmy is...nowhere to be seen.

I probably should think of the team and look for her, but I really don't feel like it. We...I...Mapo...we were all just pwned by three teenagers with overinflated egos and medieval weapons. They looked and acted like idiots...before. Now they're giving me headaches and they're making me dizzy.

They are scary.

Asha puts her hands on her hips and surveys the damage she and her friends caused.

"Well," she says brightly, though the look in her eyes is anything but. "That was fun."

"_Fun._"

"Yup! But the next time you send yer bloody dinosaurs after me?" She narrows her eyes at me. "I will rip you apart, from limb to limb, and after you are dead I will make a vivosaur out of you and kill you over and over again. Are we clear?"

"Shove off," I mutter, earning me a kick in the jaw. It really doesn't hurt much but it's definitely going to bruise.

"Come on Asha, let's just go," says Frost, eyeing her spear warily. "You...ah...seem to be risking..._her_."

"Hn." She swings her bisentō at the wall, blowing an even larger portion of it up, and the weak _chop-chop-chop_ sounds I hear indicate she got the engines too. She then stomps on something, and I hear a strangled "eep" but before I can investigate the boys have tossed their unconscious teammates over their shoulders and disappeared.

"Ta ta, losers." Asha jumps out of the hole, holding her index finger and thumb out in a L (the universal symbol for loser) for as long as I can see her and when I can't I sigh.

This is going to suck.

Emmy swings a leg over the side of the hovercraft and I reach out to pull the rest of her up. Dina shoots is both a glare when we're back on a flat, solid surface, but I ignore it and Emmy doesn't notice it.

Because that is when we all feel ourselves falling.

* * *

**A/N: Meh, fail chapter is fail. Whatever.**

**The chapter name is from a song Brittany sang on the Glee episode "Prom-a-saurus" and I think it was originally done by Ke$ha. Whatever. Again.**

**Please review, I started seventh grade today and my homeroom teachers are weirding me out.**


	3. anything but ordinary

**A/N: One review. Y'all are still mocking me.**

**A list of the things I do not own:**

**1. Any of the mythologies I steal stuff from.**

**2. Fairy Tail.**

**3. Naruto.**

**4. Jonathan and Argis.**

**5. Fossil Fighters.**

**This list is getting sad...on with le story!**

* * *

**ARGIS**

**CHAPTER THREE: ANYTHING BUT ORDINARY**

* * *

We crash-land on a rocky beach framed by a landscape I don't recognize. The water is a steely gray-blue and I can feel how cold it is from twenty feet away. Another twenty feet away stands the first tree we've squashed with our big, honking hovercraft, and behind it a whole swatch of forest has been knocked over.

_Oopsy daisy._

Emmy drags herself out from under the wreckage of the wall that went boom.

"Where are we?" she asks.

"Tara," says Rupert, not bothering to hide the distaste in his voice. "Land of whiskey, berserkers, a buttload of castles, and of course our good friend Spirit Slayer Asha, who blew a hole in our hovercraft."

"Charming." Dina pulls a small golden disk out of her pocket and closes her fingers around it. "What do we do now?"

"I think we should establish a leader," I say, kicking at a pebble. "After that we can split up and make plans, and get supplies, and stuff."

"We have Adia, though." Rupert looks around. "Right?"

"I hate to be negative but let's assume we don't. Anyway, she's a ghost. I'm not sure that she's the most qualified guardian in the world."

"Hold up," says Emmy. "Where is Tara?"

"Here."

Rupert shoots Jonathan a look. "It's off the coast of Taranis. This water empties out into the moor of Amaethon and...yeah."

"Now!" Dina throws the disk and sits on the back of the Heracles she was bossing around earlier. "Let's get to business. I nominate myself as leader." She smiles brightly at us. "Well?"

"No way," says Rupert.

The smile slides off her face. "Worst boyfriend ever," she scoffs. "Alright, why not?"

"Because you're too impulsive and violent to be the commander of a troop of teens with magic powers."

"A troop of teens and one kid," interjects Emmy shyly.

"PUH-_leeze_, like that matters. I mean, I'm more powerful than the rest of you, so I'm the obvious choice." Dina sticks her tongue out at Emmy. "So nanny, nanny, boo, _boo_."

Emmy's jaw drops. "Excuse me?" she asks. "What did you just say?"

"That I'm the most powerful person here."

"I beg to differ." Jonathan places a hand on the ground and an avalanche of the rocky sand swamps Dina. "Like, maybe I'm not being the best friend right now, but no way in HECK are you stronger than me."

"I totally am." Dina brushes rocks out of her hair and slides off her Heracles. "Heracles Beam!"

A shield of black volcanic rock blocks the laser. "You're hiding behind your vivosaurs. That isn't strength, it's cowardice."

"Guys," I say, "chill, this isn't-"

One of Emmy's daggers impales me in the shoulder and the other goes straight through Heracles's forehead. She kicks Jonathan in the head and he falls into his shield aAnd crumples.

"Omigods." I look at the wound in my shoulder, which actually doesn't hurt much but is bleeding buckets, then back at Emmy. "What in the world is _wrong_ with you!?"

Her gaze rests on her knife. Then she frowns slightly. "Oh, I'm sorry," she says, not sounding sorry in the least. She surveys the damage she's caused, looking more confident and less like the shy, timid girl I met earlier today by the second.

"Yeah, well," I say, summoning my sword, "I'm sorry, too."

I slash at her, but Rupert blocks my sword with his spear. Then Dina lashes out with her urumi. She manages to knock my broadsword out of my hands, which has never happened before. But there it is, lying in the sand, with one of Dina's feet on the hilt and the blade stuck in a rock.

"Oh you little-"

Then a small tsunami washes over me and knocks me off my feet. My sword flies out of the stone it was stuck in and Emmy's knife flies out of my shoulder. Both land in my hands, but when the water dies down Emmy kicks me in the jaw and takes her knife back, sniffing snootily.

Dina's eyes glow pink and then she floats upwards. Small pink star-shaped energy bullets come hailing down on Emmy, Rupert, and I, leaving little tiny cuts, scrapes, and burns wherever they hit. They fall faster and harder until I can't see straight; my vision is filled with dancing, blurry pink stars. I hear both the sound of rushing water and roaring wind but they fade away as soon as they start.

Is Dina really that strong? Better than the rest of us? Despite the fact that none of us have had any experience?

No, I realize. She isn't. The whole point of the elements is that there isn't one that's the strongest. Fire over earth, earth over air, air over water, water over fire. And then there's spirit in the middle and it's not really weak to anything but it's not really super effective against any of us either.

Suddenly the stars stop. Emmy is face-down on the ground, bleeding heavily from a wound in her stomach and is glowing in a radioactive green with the odd silver or blue ribbon cutting through the light. Every so often she twitches and the light stops, but only for a moment and then it's back. Rupert seems unharmed, sitting on a rock and sharpening the blade of his glaive. Dina is sitting next to Jonathan, staring out to sea. And he's making little rock towers with his powers and knocking them over with his finger.

I get unsteadily to my feet and walk towards them. "Hey."

"Hey." Dina isn't looking me in the eye.

"Can I sit down?"

She nods. "Sure."

Nobody says anything. Jonathan must sense the tension between us and excuses himself, going to examine the hovercraft. The light drizzle from earlier has turned into a heavy downpour and both Dina and I are getting soaked.

"Look," she says eventually. "I'm sorry. Rupert's right, I'd be a crappy leader. But...can you keep a secret?"

"Of course."

"I wouldn't be like this if it weren't..." She lowers her voice. "If it weren't for Emmy. I've had a crush on Rupert for months and then we finally started dating a few weeks ago, but then...well...stuff happened, to say the least. And then after all the stuff happened, I thought we'd get a normal life, but he doesn't seem to like me much."

"Were you being overly clingy? Or...I dunno...mean?"

"No! At least, I don't think so." Dina pulls her hood over her head and sits on her hands. "But honestly. We've only known each other for a few hours and he's practically drooling over her."

"You think so?" I raise an eyebrow and look at Rupert. "She's pretty, but so are you. Plus, he's like fourteen and she's, like, twelve. He's probably just confused."

"Confused. Huh." She raises an eyebrow. "About what?"

"All of this," I sigh, narrowing my eyes at the horizon. "Believe me, so am I."

She exhales and stretches out her legs so they're flush with mine. "Do you think I should apologize?"

"To Rupert? Yeah." I smile at her. "But you can skip Emmy and Jonathan."

"That was the plan."

* * *

Roughly twenty minutes later, we've hauled our ride onto the beach and tied it up, and we're sitting safely and dryly under the shelter of a tree. Adia is still nowhere to be seen, but all are apologized to and (for the most part) satisfied.

"Right. So." Jonathan steeples his fingers. "That plan wasn't all that great, but we have important stuff to attend to now. Agreed?"

"Yessir."

"Good. Uh...lesse. We gotta find a way to get this hovercraft fixed...Rupert and I can try to find a repair place. Dina, it's up to you to find Adia and try to come up with a battle plan. Emmy and Argis, take care of those cuts you have and then go get supplies - we don't know how much we have or when we'll need things. Got it?"

"What k-kind of supplies do we need?" asks Emmy. She hugs her knees to her chest. "And where do we get them?"

"We can all go together into the city, except Dina," says Rupert, eyeing his girlfriend warily, "and go from there. I'd say we should have a decent amount of food and first aid things, basic survival equipment, and possibly batteries." He shrugs. "I like batteries."

I nod. "And after we get the stuff, we can guard the ship and Dina can go do something. We can't leave her here."

Jonathan frowns slightly. "Right. No leaving Dina alone with nothing to do."

Dina seems pleased with this arrangement. She salutes to us and dashes back down to the beach, screaming Adia's name along the way. I can't help but crack a smile.

"Well then." Jonathan takes my hand and pulls me up. "Shall we?"

* * *

Walking through the streets of Newport, Tara's capital city, is half-amazing and half-awful. I love all the old Gothic buildings and the cobblestoned streets, and the vaguely steampunk feel some of the shops have. Gargoyles leer down at me from every rooftop I see, and more than once we pass old execution squares with guillotines and all, yet the pastel-colored buildings surrounding the evil-looking palaces don't look out of place.

But at the same time the weather is dreadful and all the people are miserable runts and none of us can understand a word they say. They seem to spell color with a U and shop with two Ps and an E. Chips are French fries and the coffee has whiskey in it.

Also, they don't have grocery stores.

"Ugh," groans Rupert after we pass the third pub in a row, "what is the point of this country?"

"What's the point of this _continent_?" Emmy snaps, crossing her arms and pouting; her calm and quiet exterior cracking once again. "I can't see the sun anywhere and, like, _nobody_ has a cell phone."

"It's legal to have a pet dragon," I continue, examining the new burn on my arm, "and I didn't even know dragons existed."

A wry smile crosses Jonathan's face. "The fairy lights in that window back there were actual fairies."

"It's cold."

"Whoa!"

We focus on the ground we're walking on again and notice the cobblestones have abruptly stopped, the city ending all of a sudden on a cliff dropping hundreds of feet into a gray lake. Despite the fog shrouding the water, I can clearly see snakey, scaley shapes breaking the surface, the odd sea serpent head popping up to snatch an eagle out of the air.

Suddenly, when a smaller red leviathan breaches the lake, its head just rolls off its neck and falls into the water with a loud splash. Its neck is then divided into segments by glowing white lines, and each gets to die in a horrible, gruesome way. The top one is attacked by an army of small rabid woodland creatures. The next, apparently the one containing the sea creature's heart, has the said organ fly out of the side at terminal velocity in an awful bloody matter; then the heart explodes. The third is merely killed by an onslaught of bullets and arrows, the fourth struck by lightning. And so on and so forth until there isn't any sea serpent left.

Some part of me realizes that all of this was slightly PG-13, and in case it happens again I turn to tell Emmy not to watch. But her eyes are already closed.

_Well, duh, _I think. _She's scared of heights._

Rupert's eyes, however, are wide with excitement.

"Oh my friggin' gods, we have got to get down there," he says. "That was epic."

"That was not epic! That could have been an endangered animal we just watched get killed."

He rolls his eyes. "Well, if we go down there, we could prevent more of them from getting killed. Duh."

"I hate arguing with smart people," I mutter. Then I clear my throat. "Fine. Jonathan, this cliff is a rock, so you should be able to find us a way down there, right?"

"Uh...yeah. Exactly." He runs his fingers through his hair, making it stick up oddly and look sorta dumb. Annoyed, he pats it down and sticks his hands in his pockets, concentrating in a point somewhere on the horizon.

After what feels like an eternity but is really just a few minutes, a flat granite plate slides out from the face of the cliff, covered in moss and lichens. Rupert raises an eyebrow at it.

"_That's_ our ride."

"Got a problem, pretty boy?"

"Uh, yeah, it's covered in lichens." Rupert strikes a ridiculously...well, either ridiculously gay or ridiculously _fabulous_ pose, and flips his hair. "And I don't _do_ lichens."

Emmy cracks one eye open and giggles. I can't help but do the same.

"Potatoes, please," he says at the sight of us laughing. "I'm fabulous."

This makes us laugh harder.

"ENOUGH!" Jonathan yells. "Guys, girls, humans, we were gonna go _down_ there and investigate, re_mem_ber?"

I roll my eyes, stepping on to the stone. "You know, laughter makes you live longer, which could be potentially useful with our job. Just sayin'."

Emmy pats the ground until she finds the rock, then falls face-first onto my lap. She straightens herself out and sticks her tongue out in Jonathan's semi-general direction. "Yeah, just saying."

"Ugh."

* * *

I should learn to drive down vertical surfaces. I really should. We free-fell most of the way down, and now we're sort of...stuck at thirty feet up.

Very much so.

I lean over the side and look for handholds or footholds, anything to get me off the rock. There is nothing.

Emmy, who opened her eyes and stopped screaming a little while ago, scoots forward and pokes Jonathan.

"Yes?" he asks, scowling.

"You _suck_," she says brightly, and leaps off, using her air powers to float safely to the ground.

"I hate her," he grumbles.

"Hate's a strong word, J," I remind him.

"I severely dislike her because she is a psychopath, happy?"

Rupert opens his mouth to say something, and I do the same, but we're cut off by a small shriek and Emmy clambering up onto the rock again, clearly terrified. She freaks out even more when the edge of her hoodie gets stuck on a rock, tugging at it frantically.

"Get us out of here," she hisses. "NOW!" she adds in a frantic whisper-shout.

"Why in the world should I- _oh_."

Oh is right.

On the coast of the lake is a group of nine people, the only thing off-looking about them is the fact that two of them are clearly trying to hide themselves (in overly large shades and sweatshirts with the hoods over their faces) and that one, a buff Cree girl around my age, with a sword at her side: a sheathed ōdachi...covered in blood.

I suddenly have a good feeling of who killed that sea serpent.

And then, emerging from the rock behind the teens, are the Titan Slayers.

"We're still stuck," says Jonathan, eyes wide.

"Crap."

* * *

**A/N: Yay! Enter my eight favorite characters! And the ninth, who is fun to write.**

**So yeah this was gonna be one long chapter but two fights with the Titan Slayers in a row along with the fight at the beginning of the chapter was too much violence.**

**REVIEW! Adios!**


	4. complicated

**A/N: I've decided I've stopped caring about reviews, but seriously...THIS IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN YET ANOTHER XAVIA FIC, y'all! REVIEW _MY_ STORIES! **

**Humph.**

**Disclaimer: Okay, look. If I steal things from it or write fanfictions about it, chances are I don't own it, right?**

**Now, before I commence with writing, there is a message I have to give to a one Mr. fossilfighter1313.**

**And it is as follows:**

Thou art being-eth a Depressing Person. I leave one reviewing my thoughts about how you're writing Jonathan and _poof_, "oh nobody likes my stories I'm gonna stop writing forever now but you can stop me because I'm basically pulling a reegreeg here but as I'm less stubborn and not evil I won't completely ignore y'all. The end."  
You're letting the Internet down, bro. Even if it wasn't because of me, shame on you. You were so caught up in being melodramatic you didn't review even though you're like the only person who reads my stories. And as revenge I will be skipping Jonathan's POV in this chapter and replacing him with Emmy.

Also, Catoroni, that's fine. It's pretty much the past now.

**Aight, ****story time, peoples.**

* * *

**EMMY**

**CHAPTER FOUR: COMPLICATED**

* * *

"Crap," hisses the silver-haired girl whose name escapes me. Ar...m? Arm? Arm it is.

"No duh!" I whisper-shout. "This is very crappy! We can't go up against them!"

"No one said we had to," says Jonathan, whom I do not like.

"Well what happens if they see us?" I lean back against the cliff, hugging my knees.

Nobody has an answer to that, but we all make ourselves as inconspicuous and rock-like as we can. It probably isn't important - the Titan Slayers aren't even looking in our direction - but just in case.

Eventually, after a few seconds of awkward silence, I stick my head over the side of the rock to look at the spectacle. Maybe I'll be a model citizen and sneakily warn the nine mysterious people to run away now.

Very sneakily. Or maybe not at all.

Finally the Titan Slayers move, weapons in hand, and walk up to the girl with the sword and the ribbon in her hair, who seems to be the boss of the nine mysterious teens, judging by the way she's standing and how much taller she is than the rest of them.

"Oi," says Asha, the one from this miserable country, "what are you doing on _my_ lake?"

Sword girl turns around and raises an eyebrow at Asha, who is more than a foot shorter than she is.

"You can't buy the sky," she says coolly, resting a hand on the hilt of her sword.

"Um...roight. A lake isn't the sky."

"Besides the point, Aislin."

The blood drains out of what little I can see of Asha's face. "W-what are you...how did you..."

"Know?" A nod from the small girl confirms her suspicions. "I know a lot of things. Like how while this is technically your family's land, but you're not a part of the family anymore. That's why you changed your name and went running back to the Titan Slayers."

Asha (or is it Aislin?) flips out and swings her bisentō in a wild arc at the copper-skinned teen in front of her, which she easily sidesteps. The other Titan Slayers and mysterious people take large steps backwards.

"Don't," says an auburn-haired boy to sword girl.

"I won't," says sword girl. "This is nothing. It won't take long."

And I'm expecting her to do something, at least take her ōdachi out of its scabbard, but she just lets Asha charge towards her, and at the last second she flips her still-sheathed upwards and blocks the spear. She then disarms Asha easily, and when said girl summons two spheres of light to throw at sword girl she leaps twenty feet up in the air and slices through them, still not using her actual sword.

It goes on like that. Asha can't land an attack, she's just getting bruised and bloody. She has a large gash in her back (which looks like a sword cut but is technically a scabbard cut or something along those lines) and she can barely walk. Meanwhile, sword girl doesn't have a scratch on her and she doesn't even look tired.

What _is_ she?

I don't have time to ponder that question, however, because Arm decides to move away from the edge of the rock, and her butt hits what must be a weak point in the stone...because it crumbles beneath us and leaves us falling down to the ground below.

* * *

Jonathan, being the heaviest of the four of us, hits the ground first. He falls far, landing a few feet in front of sword girl. She looks down and claps her hands over her mouth, dropping her sword. She's suddenly breathing heavily and looks like she's going to be sick.

The rest of the Titan Slayers seize the opportunity. Their weapons glow and they dash towards sword girl in a diamond-shaped formation, axe-guy in the front, the girls on the sides, and Aztec boy bringing up the rear. As they run, glowing white runes appear between them, and the air fills with a low buzz.

"KAYA!"

From behind the mysterious people's battle lines, one of the kids in hoodies is running towards sword-girl-Kaya and the Titan Slayers. Her hood and glasses fly off her head, revealing an angry pair of icy blue eyes and a dark red mane of curly hair streaming out behind her. She reaches Kaya before the Titan Slayers and kicks Jonathan out of the way, flinging her arms out as if to protect the older girl. A black chunk of metal spirals out from her chest and spreads over her body, until she's wearing thick black armor with a huge metal shell on her back and a pointy-snouted helmet. Slowly, like she's been weighed down by the armor, she turns slightly to the side and bends her knees, then thrusts her open palm towards the Titan Slayers.

The effect is instantaneous and pretty flippin' awesome. The runes turn into glowing pink lines that cocoon around the four of them and launches them into the sky, creating a shockwave that blows a hole in the ground. The girl in the turtle armor brings her hand down and the Titan Slayers fall. Hard.

"Th-thank you, Maya," says Kaya, the color returning to her face and her breathing slowing down. "You can stop killing them."

A small part of me thinks it's funny they're Kaya and Maya, since nothing rhymes with Emmy. I'm mostly just relieved we didn't have to face the Titan Slayers again.

"Hold up," says Rupert quietly to Arm and I. "Like, other than the fact that turtle girl just beat the crap out of them, they're unharmed. Emmy, you stabbed two of them, and Argis, you nearly cut Frost's arm off. How come...why..."

Omigods, he's right. They can somehow perfectly heal themselves.

Well, that just made our job a heck of a lot harder.

* * *

It's later, though I don't know by how much. After turtle girl went back to normal and the Titan Slayers started regaining consciousness, we cleared out. Jonathan turned out to be much better at driving rocks up cliffs than he was driving down them, so we were gone in no time.

We're sitting at a café table, looking glum over shepard pie. Argis and I abandoned our search for a grocery store long ago, and Rupert and Jonathan couldn't find a hovercraft repair shop anywhere. But to be honest I didn't think they would find one.

"Do we go get Dina?" mumbles Rupert. We ignore him - he's probably the only kid who actually cares about the orange-haired brat.

"How do you ask for directions to the supermarket without sounding like an idiot?" I put my head in my hands and stare at my untouched pie, then look up at the older teens at the table from behind a swoop of hair. "Well?"

"Oh, forget it," Argis groans. "They all sound like idiots here anyway. Excuse me!" She gets out of her chair and walks into the street, and taps a girl walking by on the shoulder.

"Hi, do you know where the nearest supermarket is?"

The girl turns around and I gasp - it's turtle girl!

Immediately I revert to shy-Emmy mode: brushing my hair in front of my eyes and slumping in my seat, sitting on my hands. I feel the assertive part of my brain shutting down, and I want to tell Argis that she is potentially dangerous but all that's coming out of my mouth is a pathetic squeaking sound.

Turtle girl smiles prettily. "You new over here?"

"We're visiting."

"I have the exact same problem," she says, tucking her hair behind her ears. "Sorry. In fact, I'm pretty sure there isn't one in Newport - Tara seems to still be in the hunter-gatherer age." She frowns. "Except for potatoes. They farm potatoes."

As she goes on about potatoes and cave people, I recall and realize a few things. She doesn't have a Tara accent. Her name is Maya, which I can only remember since it rhymed with Kaya. And while she seems to be looking elsewhere, her gaze flicks around like a lizard's. It rests on the table, the menu, Argis, and finally Rupert's bracelet.

"You _know_," says Maya, sticking her hands in her pockets, "we _could_ take the bus out to London - it's not too far a ride and they're civilized in Taranis."

We look at each other and finally Jonathan shrugs.

"Alright, let's go take a bus across the sea."

"That sounded weird," I mumble. "Like, really weird."

But weird as it sounds, we get out of our seats and walk single-file out into the street with Maya, leaving our food untouched and un-payed for.

* * *

The line for the buses to Taranis stretches out the door and around the corner. Most of the line appears to be tourists, probably looking for a _proper_ vacation, but there's the odd dragon-walking native waiting, too.

Maya places her hands on her hips. "There's a line," says the redhead dryly.

"No duh."

"Do we wait?"

"No _way_." Rupert flicks his bangs out of his eyes, looking remarkably like that stupid idol of Isabel's - Justin what's-his-face Beaver. But in a suit.

"Alright then, don't tell anyone." Before anyone can ask for an explanation, she places her hands on the ground and runes spiral around them. Just like when she was a turtle, a piece of metal pops out of her back, gets larger and forms armor. This one is red and scaly, with golden bits and bobs. Dragon-y. After she's wearing it and sufficiently magical (her hair is defying gravity and her eyes are glowing) she shouts something Rairyū-sounding, which makes my ears pop.

Then two dragons burst out of the ground.

"There!" She dusts off her hands, her gauntlets making loud clanking sounds as they brush against each other. "We have rides. Now, let's get going, shall we?"

* * *

I don't know how, but in the twenty-five minute dragon trip from Newport to London Maya managed to get me to stop being shy, all the information we have about our mission, and a spot on the team. In return, we've learned...well...next to nothing.

But what_ever_. She has magic powers. She's nicer than Dina. And she's totally cool - she has a tattoo even though she's only fourteen, she's lived all over the world, and...stuff.

Stuff is good.

I guess part of me wonders why she isn't trying to kill _us_, or why she even bothered to help. Maybe. Maybe I just want to wonder, so I feel like I'm on guard, like any good twelve-year-old should be.

At the same time, though, a good twelve-year-old shouldn't go around looking gift horses in their mouths.

"What do you think, Emmy? Do we need Frosted Flakes?" Argis waves a box of cereal in my face, with a box of Wheetabix in her other hand.

"Oh, pfft, get them both, silly," laughs Maya, who is skipping around Aisle 7 with a bag of marshmallows on her head. "Cereal is stuff. Stuff is good."

_Yes it is._

* * *

**A/N: Weeeeell I finally got that out of the way and boy does it feel good. Yarp, yarp it does. **

**So what's Maya's deal? What are her ulterior motives? Does she even have ulterior motives? **

**Totally obvious spoiler: yes, she does.**

**So Kaya, for your information, is based off of Fairy Tail's Kagura and Maya's powers (at least the ones shown here) are based off of Erza (another Fairy Tail character)'s magic, the Knight.**

**Review! **


	5. mowgli's road

**A/N: I have nothing worthwhile to say.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything. The IRS took it all. Including my shoes. **

**Farewell, shoes. You will be missed.**

* * *

**DINA**

**CHAPTER FIVE: MOWGLI'S ROAD**

* * *

"Dina! Dina, c'mere!"

"What?" I try to turn my head in the direction of Jonathan's voice, but jerk my head up too quickly and hit it hard on the bottom of the couch (which Adia is _not_ hiding under), and get slightly stuck.

I hope nobody sees me.

"My gosh," says an unfamiliar and annoyingly happy-sounding female voice. "That can't be comfortable."

They can see me.

"Actually, I'm having the time of my life down here. I like the...view. Of the floor. We have a nice floor."

"You think so?" replies the new voice. "I dunno. It's a little dusty."

Finally I tug my head out of the crack and stumble backwards, coughing hard. "It's called sarcasm, dummy. And...wait, who are you?"

Someone who I presume to be the too-happy girl smiles down at me. I don't think I like her.

"I'm Maya," she says, shaking my hand. "I'm the newest member of the team."

"The newest member?" I arch an eyebrow and turn to Rupert. "I wasn't aware we were taking in strays. Anyone else I should know about?"

"Nope, you know everything we know."

I pull him aside and glare at him. "Why is she here, Rupert?"

"Because she _is_."

"Seriously, Rupert."

"She's here because she's crazy powerful and we could use someone like her on our little quest here. Plus, unlike _some_ people, she doesn't have the personality of a Gila monster."

"What did you say to me!?" I hiss, tightening my grip on his collar.

"I said you had the personality of a Gila monster." He grins. "'Tis true. I speaketh not a lie."

"Guys?" Emmy pops her head out from behind the wall and I drop Rupert and back away quickly.

"Yeah, Emmy?"

"Maya wants to know what model of hovercraft this is, because she might know somebody who can fix it."

"A Lexington 2011 A-32 gunship," answers Rupert, shooting me a look with a completely different message:_ "We'll settle this later."_

Emmy dashes off; I can hear her relaying Rupert's message with her dumb-sounding high-pitched voice.

_I bet she sounds even dumber while inhaling helium_, says Hypsi dryly.

_Really, Hyp?_ Igua shoots her a disapproving look. _I thought you were pro-Emmy._

_Whatever. _

_Alright, guys, _I say, _what's this Maya girl's deal?_

_She's eeeeeeeevillllllllllll._ Tsintao flashes his trademark grin, the one that doesn't look like it belongs on a dinosaur. _Totally eeeeeevilll. _

Well, she looks the part, at least. She's pretty and has overly large eyes.

And she's got red hair. I'd kill to be a redhead.

I'd kill to be a lot of things, really.

Especially if I got to choose who I got to kill.

* * *

Maya's hovership-repairing friend arrives around sundown, when the rest of us are sitting down to a Frosted Flake and canned-bean dinner. I tried to cook something proper using the limited amount of ingredients I was _allowed_ to touch, but as the only girl in history who ever failed Home Economics, I managed to both burn the soup and give Argis a nasty purplish rash spreading from her left earlobe to her shoulder. Hey, how was I supposed to know she was allergic to potatoes? How can you be allergic to potatoes?

Anyway, Maya and I leave the table at the same time. Unfortunately, unlike her I have nothing to do, no repair people to see. I aimlessly wander the ship for a while, kicking at things that don't look fragile.

Eventually I walk outside, on to the beach. The rain's let up a little again, but the lightning's still flashing and the thunder's still a'boomin'. I'm not sure I really like Tara. Not just because of the weather and the lack of civilization and Asha, but because of he fact that everything seems so ethereal and far-removed from reality. It's like everyone's having the exact same boring dream.

The tracking power I was using earlier sends a beeping pink signal to my brain. A decidedly evil beeping pink signal. I stiffen and pick up a rock from the ground.

"I know you're there," I say flatly. "And I will throw a rock at you."

"That's not very nice." Maya's curly-haired head appears from behind the ridge of the large stone I'm standing on and the rest of her soon follows. I note that the positive, happy disposition she had earlier is gone. "But I guess you aren't a very nice person. Anyhoodle, we're leaving in twenty minutes."

"_Great_."

"What's your problem?" she snaps.

"You," I retort.

"Puh-leeze, that was old when the dinosaurs were still alive. I'm serious, why are you so emo?"

"I'm not emo!" I whirl around to face her around and fling the rock towards her head. It misses. "But I don't like you, I don't like Emmy, I don't think I like my _boyfriend_, AND I HATE THIS STUPID QUEST!"

"WELL TAKE ONE FOR THE TEAM, THEN!" she roars, balling her fists. "IT'S FOR THE GREATER EFFING GOOD!"

"I'VE ALREADY SAVED THE WORLD!"

"TIME TO DO IT AGAIN!"

We stand there for a few moments, glaring at each other, fingers curled into fists and hair blowing every each way in the wind. There were birds in the trees before, but now all of them, even the big ones like ospreys and goshawks, have flown away like birds always do when presented with loud noises. The tension between us is so thick it can be cut with a knife, and I can tell she's just itching to punch me. I'm itching to punch her. She has a good three inches on me, and in way better shape. But if I had the element of surprise...

"Guys," yells Rupert, his bright red figure hurtling down the strip of rocky sand. "Guys! It's time to leave, remember!?"

Maya takes off, hot on Rupert's heels even with his head start. I slide off my rock and walk slowly towards them and our all-better hovership, stopping to pick a small yellow wildflower. I twirl it between my fingers and look around, at the jerks who call themselves my teammates and the stupid gunship which I now have to call home. The absence of the ghost calling herself my grandmother.

Take one for the team? Not likely.

* * *

My fingers fly across the keys. There are stacks of mythology books next to me, along with old copies of Illustrated Science and the odd college geography textbook. I'm in the newly discovered library on the bottom floor of the ship, where floor-to-ceiling bookshelves line almost the entire perimeter of the room and this part of the cold floor is made of glass, so I can see the wispy gray clouds and flocks of seabirds fly past as I work. Past the glass-bottomed area where the computers are, the floor is ebony with squashy rugs and funny little tables with old globes on them and poufs and armchairs galore. Unfortunately, I can't do any proper work when I'm sitting comfortably - thus sitting on the floor.

"Ugh," I mutter. "Useless."

On the computer screen, the little clock display goes from 11:39 to 11:40. It's nearly midnight and I still haven't found anything on the gods' gems of power. Typical.

I gather up all my books, because that's it, I'm calling it a night. Tomorrow is probably going to be full of blood and gore and violence. Things a girl needs her beauty sleep for.

But something catches my eye as I walk towards the crammed shelves of the non-fiction section. On the bottom of a bookshelf devoted to marine biology is a huge, ancient, leather-bound journal with a faint title stamped in gold: _A True History of the Caliostean Pantheon. _

And under it, in little cramped letters, "The unabridged version."

I tug it out of the shelf, tossing it onto a chair, and put everything else in a pile on the table, thoughts of sleep forgotten and long gone. Eagerly I crack it open. And start coughing. It's very dusty.

Oh my gods, I realize when I scan the table of contents, it fixes _everything_.

The first chapter is a hundred eighty pages of biographies. Ten for each god. There are sketches of them in full battle regalia, their friends and enemies and likes and dislikes, their holy weapons, the clan that represents them, and lots of little names scribbled in the corner. (Those, I don't get. I ignore those.)

I flip through the biographies, forgetting the gems of power and losing myself in the beautiful stories the journalist wrote hundreds of years ago about these beings who secretly rule the world without most people noticing. Even the most hardcore atheist ever would be enthralled, 'cause everything's just so _amazing_.

The next chapter's yellowed pages are different than the rest. They're thicker and the corners are rounded, burnt around the edges. They smell faintly like a mix of blood and vanilla and if I squint really hard, they glow blue. But only a little.

It's called "Demigods."

Under that, it shows three parts: the Keepers, the Titan Slayers, and "true demigods," whatever that means. I suppose I should go to the pages on our opponents, but I turn the page, and grinning and pointing her middle finger to the sky is...me.

Well, a drawing of me. I'm not moving or anything. There isn't even any color. It's just a hasty sketch of my yours truly from the shoulders up. I almost think it's some sort of coincidence, but the title of this page is "Spirit: Dina Tegan MacAdley."

No matter how you decide to _spell_ my name, even if you write it in strawberry jam while standing on your head, that's my name.

A smidgen of my euphoria subsides as I read the basic facts. About me. They're incredibly accurate, down to the very last little tiny detail. My height has two decimal places after it, the number showing my weight has three. And as the clock over the fireplace goes from 11:59 to 12:00, my age changes from "13 years, 7 months, and 21 days old" to "13 years, 7 months, and 22 days old."

Oddly, the little thing showing my direct family shows not only my late parents, but someone named Iris. I've never met an Iris in my life. Certainly not an "Iris Scarlett MacAdley."

According to the journal, I can read more about her on page 205, in the "true demigods" section. I'm not going to - the family surprise I got yesterday (or technically two days ago, now) was enough for the week.

I ultimately end up skipping the Demigods chapter, thoughts and theories on Iris flying around my head. None of them make any sense. And with fear of discovering she's an awful terrorist or something, I don't want to read about her.

The next chapter looks promising, with sketches of rocks and diamonds and various animals on the title page. The paper is back to normal.

Hope it stays that way.

* * *

At eight o' clock sharp I stumble bleary-eyed into the library, where everyone else is already armed, dangerous, and ready to stop global warming. Emmy is dressed in a Kevlar military jumpsuit and has war paint and an army helmet on; Maya's in mottled gray and white spikey armor with two swords on her back, three daggers at her belt, and an AK-47 in front of her on the table.

"'Sup, y'all?" I yawn. "And where do I get a gun?"

"Nowhere, it's my gun," sniffs Maya. "Get a coffee and listen up, the smart people are saying smart things."

Argis hands me a cup of coffee from the coffee machine on a desk. Rupert and Jonathan are using every computer in the room and pacing frantically.

"What are you looking for?"

"The Titan Slayers," says Rupert, throwing a bundle of documents over his shoulder. "We can't formulate a proper plan without information on the enemy."

Wordlessly I grab the journal from yesterday and open it to page 197, where the information on the Titan Slayers begins. Rupert thanks me and scans the first page, and pulls out five sheets of looseleaf that were clearly added later. Paperclipped to them are photos of Keaka and Astrid, and the writing on them is done in brightly colored gel pen.

"PLAN!" yells Rupert suddenly, shoving the journal towards Jonathan. I perch on the armrest of Argis's chair, doing my best to look interested. The rest of the girls do the same, while Rupert and Jonathan scribble on papers and point to things on maps and globes and chatter away excitedly, never using a word with less than three syllables.

"Are you actually going to tell us the plan, or is it too complicated for our little girl brains to comprehend?" I ask, my "interested" face fading and being replaced with "not-so-politely bored."

"Probably is," sighs Emmy. "Everything they've said all morning has been. They've done a real bang-up job showing that males are of superior intelligence."

"Like when they asked me how to turn on the coffee machine," Maya adds.

"Oh! And when they were searching the espionage book area for mythology books. They blamed their failure on the Dewey Decimal System, can you believe that?"

You know, I still don't really like them, but this seems like quite the little bonding session we've got going here.

"Don't be mean," Argis says. "They're doing their best."

We roll our eyes at her and Emmy scoots over on her pouf, so I can sit down. I take her up on her offer.

"Peoples!" I shout to the boys. "Said you had a plan! What is it?"

Rupert and Jonathan grin and launch into a long, detailed explanation on this stakeout they have planned in various spots all over the globe. There are mathematical equations showing everything from the difference in speed between our airships to the probability the Titan Slayers will attack in certain places based on the averages shown in the journal. They have graphs for unnecessary things like consumption of liquids under certain conditions or chances of death by exposure. And it never. Freaking. Ends.

Finally Emmy stands up and blows all the papers and books away from the boys, shoving them aside. She crosses out their hypothermia-to-frostbite ratio thing from the whiteboard they found somewhere and for good measure proclaims it "USELESS" in big black letters.

"Assistant!" she yells. Maya and I shrug.

"Yes?" we ask at the same time, wrinkling our noses at each other but turning to the short girl in Arctic camo staring at the book of Caliostean godly stuff.

"I can't read this handwriting. Oh, what, there are two of you? Here, you take this and you take this," says Emmy, giving me the journal and Maya a book on climate change. "You find out what we do with the godly gems of awesome once we find them, and you find out what we can do to stop the ice from melting."

She then erases everything on the board and tosses the marker away. "Okay, well, thank you for expanding our vocabulary there, Jonathan and Rupert. I'm not sure when I'll ever use the word 'pugnacious,' but maybe it'll get me on Word Girl. Anyways, what we're gonna do is we're gonna fly ourselves to the North Pole and do whatever we do with the gems, like take over the world and then re-take over the world, just for kicks and giggles. And destroy the Titan Slayers. More on that later. Anyway, once we've done that, we'll stop the ice from melting and if we ever see the Titan Slayers we'll blast 'em outta the sky and beat them up if they're still alive. Any objections?"

Nobody says anything. I'm not really reading, I've been trying to figure out how many S-es are in 'pugnacious.' Oh, and listening to the plan. Duh. (Not really.)

Rupert raises his hand. "What about practice? The Titan Slayers are way stronger than us."

"We'll have Maya take care of everything. Any other objections?"

Rupert's hand is in the air again, but none of us pay him any attention. I slam the journal shut, beaming.

"Then the plan is a go!"

* * *

**A/N: So it is. Now I have a question for you readers! Have any of y'all noticed the fatal mistake everyone has made? If so, tell me what it is in a review! And I'll send you a PM saying if it's right or not!**

**…**

**I'll just...leave now. Please review. Bye.**

_"'Tis true[!] I speaketh not a lie." _Katie-Rose says this to Milla when interrogating her about the first Mona Bubbles.


	6. buy the stars

**A/N: REGAN M. IS CLASS PRESIDENT! SOON TO BE EMPRESS OF THE UNIVERSE! MWAHAHAHA!**

**No I don't own anything. The IRS is still holding my fandoms and shoes hostage.**

* * *

**RUPERT**

**CHAPTER SIX: BUY THE STARS**

* * *

As soon as Emmy's done presenting her plan, I speed-walk out of the library with my head down and my cheeks burning. I can't believe it. She outsmarted me! She's twelve! She's a _girl_! I'm fourteen with an IQ of _172_. And she just waltzes in with her annoyingly simple, fuel-efficient, genius plan and everyone goes along with it.

I barely notice the soft footsteps behind me until the footstep-maker follows me up the stairs, jumping up them two at a time and making an awful lot of noise every time they land. It's probably Dina, with her hyperactive violent rant of the hour. The one she always feels the need to tell me.

"Someone looks bummed."

I turn to my right to find Maya grinning at me. Huh. It wasn't Dina. I must be losing my touch.

"Dang straight," I reply.

"Why?" She raises her eyebrows and her impish grin widens. I don't get how she's so happy, especially for someone who didn't get any sleep.

"Because Emmy just totally owned me. I'm supposed to be smart, and then my plan was so overly complicated."

"Well, the best plans tend to be the simplest," muses Maya. "But don't worry, you're still smart. You know what they say - at ten you're a prodigy, at fifteen you're a genius, and at twenty you're ordinary. You've still got a nice year before geniosity, and a good _six_ before being ordinary."

"Where did that come from?" I ask dryly, a small smile tugging at the corners of my mouth.

"I dunno. My friend has a notebook he lugs around and it's full o' smart sayings and stuff."

A part of me twists itself into knots upon hearing that Maya's got guy friends. The rest of me tells it to shut up, since I'm dating Dina.

"Anyway," she goes on, "do you- hey! Check it! Grønland!"

Maya bolts up the stairs and presses her nose against the glass of the window. "Panserbjørne! I can see panserbjørne!"

"What are panserbjørne?" I ask.

"The armored bears." Her face lights up, and her fingers stopping their nervous tapping on the banister. "They're like polar bears but much, much, bigger, and they got opposable thumbs, and they can talk. Like us. But what they're famous for is their armor.

"Y'see the panserbjørne are really smart. You can't trick 'em. And no way can you beat them in a fight. But bears fight bears all the time, and _they_ can trick one another, so they make armor. It's like their soul. They make it out of something called sky iron, which only they can work with. It's bear magic."

"They make their own souls?" The though deeply disturbs me, for some reason.

"Well...ish. They have souls before they get armor, but the armor defines them. If a panserbjørne loses their armor they'll be dead to the world until they get it back." She turns back to the window and her voice adopts a wistful tone. "I've always wanted to see one in person."

"Hn." I stare at the bears with her for a moment but continue my voyage up the spiral staircase, failing to find the panserbjørne as interesting as the redhead to my left does. My cheeks burn even more as I stomp up the steps three at a time. Yet another thing the genius didn't know.

I bump into Emmy near the top and accidentally knock her over. She lands flat on her butt and I really should help her up but I'm really not in the mood.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I say, not looking down as I try to brush past her.

"It's okay." She gets to her feet and bounces down the steps to Maya, stiffening at the sight of the ground far below us but not fainting. "Hey, are we over Grønland already?"

"Yeah!" Maya jabs her finger at the small figures of the bears. "Check it! Panserbjørne."

"Really!?" Emmy leans towards the window. "My gosh," she breathes, "we gotta stop the ship. Who's piloting?"

"It's on autopilot. Still no sign of Adia."

"Well make it stop autopiloting-"

"If I did that we would fall and die."

Her eyes flash and for a second they're green - solid green, with no pupils or irises. Then she slaps me, hard, and after that her eyes are back to brown.

"Please find a way to make the ship stop autopiloting without us dying," she says through gritted teeth. "Look, I have a headache and I've had to deal with your sexist crap since seven AM. I'm not in the mood."

"Sexist crap? What?"

Maya rolls her eyes, her girl-power and armored bear-induced euphoria rapidly subsiding. "'Shut up, make yourself useful. Do whatever girls usually do.' 'It's a guy thing. You wouldn't understand.' 'My gender is clearly of superior inte-'"

"I never!"

"You did too!"

"Did not," I scoff.

"Oh yes you di-id." Maya places her hands on her hips and glares at me, while Emmy punches the wall in the background, taking deep, shuddery breaths.

"Oh no I didn't."

"Oh yes you di-"

"Shut _up_," groans Emmy in a strangled voice, "everyone just _shut up_. Rupert, I said please, okay? We need to land in Grønland and we need to do that now."

"Why?" I ask stubbornly.

"BECAUSE!" Emmy's eyes are slowly turning green again and she looks like she's about to be sick.

"Alright, alright," I say, stuffing my hands in my pockets and leaving. But I can't resist muttering, "But really, Emmy Logan, who died and made you queen?"

Said girl's response to this is kneeling over and throwing up.

* * *

Emmy's dragged the hovership off with her somewhere in the direction of the panserbjørne, and Maya's off with her. Of course. Dina almost left with them, but for some reason decided it would be great fun to call Emmy a "bipolar b***h."

I'm sick of it. I'm sick of _her_.

I'm sick of all three of them.

Now, I understand they're not exactly friends. They lack the chemistry needed to be good teammates. They're all insecure about something or other and have egos the size of houses (Maya and Dina do, anyway) and they're just so annoyingly proud. Then, I hate to admit it, but Dina has a point - Emmy seems to have some bipolarity issues, which are getting hard to deal with. None of them ever explain anything they do, they just go for it. Which is fine. People are impulsive. Dina McAdley, Emmy Logan, and Maya whatever-her-last-name-is are perfectly entitled to free will.

But _still_. We're facing problems that affect the entire world here. One of them is practically older than time itself and the other could wipe out every species on the planet in a span of ten years if we're not careful. Would it kill the three of them to be friends?

Well, at least Jonathan, Argis, and I get along rather well. It's nice being able to talk with people with intelligences that at least begin to compare with mine. Back on the Caliosteo Islands, Todd only wanted to have Fossil Battles with me or do athletic things like have one-on-one soccer matches; Pauleen and I would normally just stare at each other for a while and then start reading whatever book we had lying about. Occasionally we'd write poetry. But it wasn't exactly "hanging out."

Then there's Dina. Dina, Dina, Dina.

...Dina. That is her name.

I really don't know what there is to say about her. Or us. Before we defeated Zongazonga, the broken half-relationship we had had meaning. She didn't annoy the living daylights out of me or treat me like kissable crap. I was actually on my way to becoming a better person. I had feelings. I thought I was happy. But then when the demonic undead sorcerer was out of our lives, one of the two things we had in common was out of our lives forever. And it left scars. It took most of us out with it.

I have to break up with her. I know that. In the long run I'll end up hurting her and everyone else if I keep this up. But can I really dump her _now_, of all times? When what all of us really need right now is something constant, something that's exactly the same as our lives used to be? Even if it's painful. Even if it's broken and garbage and sad.

"Alright, humans, attention," says Jonathan, smoothing out the traffic map he bought in our table. "We need an actual plan, and now that the angsty girls are gone, it's high time to come up with one."

"But we have a plan," mumbles Argis, stirring her tea lazily.

"No, like a battle plan for what happens at the North Pole," I supply. "Right?"

"Exactly."

Argis heaves a sigh and continues her stirring. I stare at the dregs from my tea, wondering, just like I did as a kid, if I can tell the future with them.

"Alright," Jonathan begins saying, taking a Sharpie out from his bag, "so if the Ti-"

"GUYS!"

We turn to find Maya skidding into the restaurant, cheeks and nose pink from the cold and a slash across her collarbone a glistening red. Blood is slowly leaking out of her mouth, too, and she has her left hand pressed to her lips and her right is clutching a bloody tissue.

"What?" Jonathan snaps.

"Titan Slayers. Emmy's out there alone. Where's the McAdley?" Her breathing is ragged and her eyes are wide, pupils tiny.

"Omigods." Argis claps a hand to her mouth. "Again? You beat them up!"

"They can heal themselves. Besides the point." Maya grabs my water glass off the table and spits something into it. A tooth.

"Ain't nobody got time for teeth," she says upon seeing my quizzical look. "But we have to hurry!"

And that we do.

* * *

As we run across the tundra towards the glaciers where we saw the panserbjørne earlier, I run ideas and calculations through my head, on how they patched themselves up so well and the probability that it's a natural ability. But it's all useless. I'm beginning to think there was a grain of truth to that thing Maya said, about the best plans always being simple.

Suddenly Argis, who's in the lead, stops abruptly. The rest of us freeze behind her. It's like the air formed a wall in front of us and it won't let us through.

"That's exactly it," says a deep male voice from behind us. I whirl around to find a six-foot-tall polar bear in steely blue armor lumbering towards us. A panserbjørne! Maya falls into a kowtow and pushes me and Argis down with her. Jonathan kneels down slowly with his eyebrows raised, a skeptic look on his face.

"Rise, humans."

We obey the armored bear and I can't help but ask, "Excuse me, but how did you know what I was thinking? Can you read minds?"

He looks down at me. "I do nothing of the sort. However, your little human faces are like open books. Your emotions and speculations were obvious."

"Oh."

We all turn back it the fight and the bear goes on. "That girl in the middle - what is her name?"

"Emmy."

"Emmy...the girl who made the wall...she fights like a cat," says the bear slowly. "Like the cat."

"_The_ cat?" Argis arches an eyebrow.

"Indeed. The goddess of air, Bast. Also the goddess of cats." His tone makes it seem like we should know this already.

Emmy _does_ seem fairly cat-like as she pivots in the air and blocks the attacks of Keaka and Frost with her knives, using them like extensions of her arms. Or like claws. A weakly flickering silver and green aura surrounds her. Her eyes are glowing solid green like before, and her daggers aren't blue anymore - their blades are silver, the hilts are made of emerald and jade, and there are milky white runes in Ancient Caliostean swirling around the blades. It's impressive for someone so small, but at the same time she clearly can't keep this up for long. Like Maya she has a gash across her collarbone, which is bleeding heavily and goes from her shoulder to roughly a fourth of the way down her sternum.

"She needs help," Jonathan says, snapping us all back to reality.

"Right. How are we gonna do that? We can't pass."

Maya picks up a small chunk of ice and pitches it towards the barrier. It lodges itself in the middle of the wall, spins around, and shoots back out. The ice ball grazes my chin and hurtles towards the armored bear, which would probably kill him if it hit. Instead the panserbjørne lifts his hand and spreads out his fingers like humans do (and I note that they really _do_ have opposable thumbs, which I could have sworn was an exaggeration), then catches the ice ball and crushes it with no effort.

"Well, that was rather crude, demigod," the armored bear says. Maya pales. _What's a demigod?_ I long to ask, but don't.

"My turn!" Jonathan punches the ground as hard as he can, with a sand-colored glow around his hand. A few small rocks rattle a little bit and zoom towards the little hole he created, but other than that nothing happens.

"Wha-" he stammers, looking around. "I-"

"It's all solid ice," Argis says, crossing her arms. "Twenty feet down. And then it's water. Your powers won't work."

"Why don't you try?"

"What, by melting it? No way. We're supposed to prevent the polar ice from melting, remember?"

Everyone's gaze rests on me. Oh, right. I'm the water Keeper. Great.

I put my head in my hands and sigh. Then I carefully sit down on the glacier, gesturing for the others to stand back. I place my hands down lightly on to the ice with only my fingertips touching the ground, and focus. Runes swim around in my head and behind my eyelids. I don't recognize most of them but there are some I do - determination, ice, destruction. Strength. Storm. Rebellion. Death.

I'm aware of the ice bursting upwards and jagged bits of glacier cutting through the wind. I know that in the background something is going _crunch_ and someone is cursing. But my ears have popped and every sound I hear is tinny and far away. The runes behind my eyes are floating in the sky now, and I'm understanding bits and pieces of what they're telling me. It's some sort of story. The gods make cameo appearances but mainly it's about Life and Death, as people or something, and puppets. It feels like it should be funny. But it isn't.

_"You can't win."_

_"What?"_ I turn around but there's nobody there.

_"Just give up. None of the things you're doing will change anything."_

_"I don't understand."_

The thing talking to me sighs and its weird tripled voice wearily says,_ "S__top. Leave the people you so obviously hate, leave the gods, who never did anything for you, and join me. Death grows stronger by the minute and he _will_ reclaim the planet. It will be the end of-" _I hear a strangled, choking sound, and the voice screams._ "WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T LET DEATH GET TO YOU!"_

I collapse.

* * *

It's obviously later when I wake up in the dimly lit hospital cave, but I can't tell by how much. Outside the window the sky is dark but this is autumn in Grønland - it's dark at four o' clock during this time of year. A wrapped present sits on the stone table next to my hospital bed, and as I reach for it a bear comes in.

"Good," she says, "you're awake. Your friend woke up a little while ago."

I turn to see Maya sitting in the bed on the other side of the room. She's tearing blankly into space, her face expressionless but her knuckles white as she grips the wolverine fur blanket.

"What happened?" I ask.

"I don't know. It...it was _her_."

The bear scribbles something on to a sheet of paper. "Well, I was not there, but it after you attacked the wall, young man, it appears you had a sort of...fit. You also floated two meters up into the air and started glowing. Does this happen often?"

"No."

"I see. Well after you started glowing this young lady here also seemed to have a little fit, but hers was different. After the twitching episode subsided, well...hm. Lakir said it was like you were a puppet, or as he put it, 'a skeleton on a string.' Does _this_ happen often?"

"Kind of."

"Interesting." More scribbles. "Well, I have to go check on that other girl, Emmy, now, but if you need anything there are always other bears around. Oh, and sir, please don't open the package until all six of you are up to speed on what it contains." With that, she leaves the room.

Maya fingers the stitches along her neck and shoulder and turns to face me. Her eyes are glassy. "I'm so sorry," she says.

"For what?"

"Well, I was being bratty earlier. Which was dumb. I'm fourteen and I should know better. And then even though both of us knew that Emmy couldn't handle the Titan Slayers by herself I was the one who ran to get you. All of this is my fault."

"Hey, it's okay," I tell her, even though somewhere deep down inside I know it's not. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry, too. For all my sexist crap."

"You just don't get it, do you!?" snaps Maya. "Have you seen Emmy?" She hops out of her bed and jams her feet into her boots. "Come on."

Emmy's room is just around the corner from ours, but it's way different. While ours is dark and small, hers is huge and brightly lit. All sorts of weird machines are beeping away and there are rows of shelves lined with tightly sealed bottles of all shapes and sizes. A brilliant green glow is coming from the corner of the room; shielding my eyes and scanning the far wall I see the light is coming from the air Keeper's bracelet. That's odd. Aren't we supposed to keep them on at all times?

"Has it been five minutes yet?"

"I think so."

Dina gets up from her rickety metal folding chair at Emmy's bedside and removes all her blankets, giving them to Jonathan. He places them in a pile on the floor. Dina unravels the first few layers of Emmy's bandages and removes a sticky wad of green spongey stuff from under them. The moss-looking thing is soaked with blood.

Argis takes a large flask down from one of the shelves and hands it to Dina, and she pulls out more of the green stuff, but this looks lighter and less sticky. _Well, duh,_ I think. _It's not bloody yet._

"Bloodmoss," says Jonathan to Maya and I. "It removes infection. The bears use it."

"Gross." Maya wrinkles her nose. "Why don't they use peroxide or something?"

"They're bears. In the North Pole."

"But still."

Suddenly I hear a fit of coughing. We all turn towards the sound, and Jonathan's eyes widen.

"Emmy!" Dina - Dina! Of all the people in this room! - flings her arms around the smaller girl's neck and hugs her. "You're okay!"

Emmy coughs some more in response. "Can't- breathe-" she squeaks. Dina loosens her grip and pats her on the head.

"I thought they killed you!"

"Me too!"

"So did I." Argis blows her hair away from her face. "Trust me, that cut looked fatal."

I shoot an "oh-my-gods-seriously-what's-going-on-here" glance to Maya, which, much like the rest of my actions, is ignored by the others.

"Where's my bracelet?" Emmy asks suddenly, lifting up the corner of her mattress and flipping her pillow over in search of it.

"It's here, actually," says Dina, lifting it up with the end of a pencil, "but you are forbidden from wearing it under any circumstances from now on. That's what Ingeborg said, right guys?"

Jonathan nods. "Verbatim."

Emmy pouts. "Why?" she demands, the question and its harsh tone sounding silly in her her high, timid voice.

"Uh...well."

"Ahahaha...Argis?"

"Erm...INGEBORG!"

The female bear from earlier charges into the room, fangs bared. "What?" she growls. "Did something happen?"

"For starters," Dina chirps, "Emmy's awake. And don't worry, we've been reapplying her bloodmoss every five minutes like you told us to. But can you explain the whole Bast thing to her?"

Ingeborg sets the parcel she was holding down on Emmy's bedside table. It's like mine, but the ribbon is emerald green and the box is larger. The panserbjørne sighs. "Everyone, get comfortable," she says. "This is a rather long story."

Obviously. Aren't they all?

"Are you all acquainted with the eighteen combat gods? Wait, no, of course you are. That was a dumb question - let me start over. Hmm...okay. As you all are most likely aware, the gods can manifest their being into many different things. While most of their power and soul is in their humanoid forms, there is a little bit of each god in their respective bracelet.

"Now, most of the gods have rather difficult personalities. Some are mean, some are flamboyant. But the worst are the helpful ones. Bast, goddess of air, is one of those gods. And on top of that she is the goddess of cats, meaning she believes that everything she sees belongs to her. This includes the air Keepers.

"Bast went out of her way to make sure she could have full control over the minds, souls, and powers of the Logan heroes. It didn't work exactly the way she planned, but she did a very thorough job. Like you may have noticed with Emmy and her mood swings, occasionally Bast will take over the mind of the current Keeper and take care of things _her_ way, which tends not to result in very good things, despite the fact that it will give them a somewhat more cheerful, confident personality for the time being.

"The problem here, though, is that with the fact that Emmy hasn't had her bracelet for six years, Bast has gotten rather frustrated. While normally the possessions are very rare, Bast seems to have decided that to make up for lost time she'll just take over her mind entirely and only let her free for short periods of time.

"This was a problem with Emmy's late mother, as well. But before she died, Indigo managed to cast a protective enchantment on the knives the Logans use, which loosened Bats's hold on their minds. Unfortunately with all this fighting you have been doing, the spell has broken, which is why during the fight where you all ended up hospitalized the daggers reverted to their original, rather ostentatious, forms. The spells are being re-cast as we speak.

"Actually, this brings us to the boxes, doesn't it?" Ingeborg opens Emmy's present. Lying inside on a bed of crushed silk is four iron keys, each with decorative emeralds towards the top and the flat wide part bearing a picture of a scene: one with snow and pine trees, one with Rairyū-style dragons flying through a bird-filled sky, one with deciduous forests and Cree teepees, and the last one just a flat expanse of ice. "Now, as you may know, each god had five deities or lesser spirits as their advisors and soldiers. These can be used by the demigods, Keepers, and Titan Slayers as well. The deities each have a palace somewhere in another realm, and can be called upon using these Gatekeys. Thus you simple humans have started calling them Deities of Gates-"

"Gateys?"

"-precisely why it's a bad name-"

"What? No! A Gatey is a great name."

"SHUT UP!" Ingeborg puts her head in her massive paws and sighs. "Anyway, these are four of the five air spirits: the North Wind, Boreas, the East Wind, Eurus, the South Wind, Notus, and the West Wind Zephyrus. Emmy, using the bonds you'll develop with these spirits, you'll be able to fight without Bast getting access to your mind and soul. Rupert, it's recommended you don't overuse your powers, so you received the spirit of the Paired Fish Palace, Pisces, and the spirit of the Water Bearer Palace, Aquarius. Maya, you have keys already, correct?"

Maya nods.

"The only thing you must be careful about when using these spirits is that some people, like Maya here, can use spirits that aren't subjects of their patron god or goddess, and some are linked to other places. Like Pisces and Aquarius, young man - as constellations, anyone with cosmic powers can exploit them."

She lets that sink in. I don't think she knows about Astrid but she clearly knows something. Something big.

"Well, everyone here should get their rest, and you can continue your journey north later," says the panserbjørne eventually. She leaves the room.

"Wow." Jonathan leans back in his chair, almost tipping it over. "This'll be fun."

* * *

**A/N: Phew! Finally done. To think this was sort of a filler, right?**

**Oh well. **

**Okay so! The panserbjørne are from His Dark Materials. If you haven't read that perfect book series, go pick it up now. I command you. And Bast wasn't the goddess of air, but she was the Ancient Egyptian goddess of cats, so...yeah. Her character is pretty much how Bast is in the Kane Chronicles, but in my defense that's the first place I read about her.**

**Also, the four winds Emmy has are the Ancient Greek wind gods! with proper names and all. The Gatekey thing is a modified thing from Fairy Tail.**

_"At ten you're a prodigy, at fifteen you're a genius, and at twenty you're ordinary."_** Haru says this in the first episode of _Free!_. **

**Review, _s'il vous plaît_!**

P.S.: I'm masking a WDMiCTT II wiki, so if y'all have any questies you might find some answeries there.


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